Babel (2006)

Or, as the Governator called it when listing nominees shortly before its win as Best Dramatic Film at the Golden Globes, "Bauble" (it might have been closer to "Bobble," and seeing as he immediately announced "Barbie" afterward, I thought for a moment he was either correcting himself or had lapsed into complete Austrian incoherence). The film's win convinced me to give it a spin.

Yeah, pretty good. It juggles four linked narratives but not as much time-wise as 21 Grams, a huge plus in my book. And the huge techno filter remix euphoria of Earth Wind & Fire's "September" that served as Chieko's entrance to the club left me hoping the whole rest of the movie was gonna be a big Tokyo rave. Not so much - we just had to go back to all that shooting-at-Moroccan-children stuff. Oh, overarching dramatic themes.

It's like Traffic or Syriana or Crash, but this time the focus is on the need for communication and connection - between the different plot strands, of course, but also between people. Don't go into it expecting there to be some big payoff when you see what the stories have to do with each other - you'll be barking up the wrong tree.

Buddy Challenge: Defend Children of Men

Here's the deal: i'm hearing tons of critical praise for Children of Men, but this movie sent me into a coma of depression. It was totally overwhelmingly bleak, i didn't like a lot of the acting (Julianne Moore, anyone?), and some of the scenes were a little too par in the realm of in-your-face political commentary to gibe with the in-you-face post apocalyptic realism.

Not that i don't recognize the awesomeness of the camera work and super long takes. And Michael Caine. That stuff was great.

On the other hand, a lot of smart people (in addition to the movie critics) liked this movie. So why don't some of those people write in here and say why they liked it. Not to say that you should really have to defend the movie (that's just for publicity,) and not that we should have some kind of big debate about it, but it would be interesting to get a bunch of different takes on the movie. eh?

Blood Diamond (2006)

This is one of many movies I watched over the holiday, but it's the one I feel that I have something to say about. A lot of the Rotten Tomatoes kids (whose average rating just barely puts the film in the positive) have elitist qualms about Leo being the star instead of Djimon Hounsou, with the implication being that the movie talks down to its audience and the filmmakers think we need to tell the story of Africa from a "white savior" perspective. But let's be blunt: more people are going to watch a Leo movie than a Djimon Hounsou movie - for whatever reason. I say, whatever gets people's attention on how our actions affect people in places we claim to care about but won't or don't know how to help is a good thing. Assuming one agrees with the movie's message (and who wouldn't?), it seems almost morally counterproductive to sandbag such a well-meaning film with accusations of racism.

If you don't mind a bit of preachiness and can accept a fictionalized movie that still has elements of truth to impart, there's a whole bunch of action to help the sugar go down. Director Edward Zwick did this much better in Glory, but Blood Diamond still does it.

Miami Vice 2006 (viewed on DVD)

There are certain times in my life where my masturbatorial impulse is so great that I just have to stroke my own personal ego and hope that some good comes from it. Having said that, I will say that anyone can be a decent film maker if they are provided with a big enough Panaflex lens and a Miami sunset. The trick to being a great filmmaker is having a story.
Now, having said all that...
I turned Miami Vice off with one hour remaining. I can't think of the last time I stopped watching a movie (before the half way point). This fact comes to you from someone who was one of 6 people in the theatre for Joe's Apt., a movie so poor that they couldn't even afford to spell out "apartment."
I'm sad because I was looking for mindless entertainment with scattered ass and explosions and crazy informant characters and I really really really liked Heat, and all I got was just mindless.